A Secret Fear
by That Creative One
Summary: Hawkeye, deadly assassin, master archer, afraid of...thunder?


A/N: So, originally I wanted this to be a Thanksgiving fic for the Avengers team, but…it kinda changed courses. This will be a one-shot (I know, so far 2/3 of my Avengers stories are one-shots, but that's my specialty.), Blackhawk/Clintasha or whatever you happen to call ClintxNatasha. I'm still new to the Avengers fandom so no flames please! Kinda fluffy :3 REVIEWS ARE MAGICAL SO PLEASE REVIEW. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: Is a disclaimer even necessary here? I think not.

Everyone should have seen it coming; dark clouds had been gathering, covering the sky in a gray blanket out to the horizon, in addition to the wind howling like an injured dog. So it came as no surprise to the Avengers residing in the Stark Tower when the skies opened up and poured freezing rain for all it was worth. But not all of them were happy about it.

The Avengers were all doing various things. Natasha and Tony were watching an action thriller movie. Steve was sketching, and Bruce was reading. Clint was polishing his bow and trying not to panic.

He was sitting with Natasha and Tony, only half paying attention to his bow, which was highly uncharacteristic for Clint. Instead, he was mainly focused on the brooding skies and pouring rain. Waiting, watching, hoping, praying….

A bright flash of light cracked through the sky, followed by a _BOOM. _

_ Crap. _

Clint tightened his grip on the bow until his knuckles were white to stop his hands from shaking. Already, he could feel panic rising in his throat, bringing back memories he would rather avoid. During missions, during his childhood…the weather had never cooperated with Clint, but seemed intent on traumatizing him whenever it could. Unfortunately, this seemed to happen rather often.

"Clint? Are you alright?" Bruce asked, jarring Clint back into reality. He glanced up from his bow.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Clint said, fighting to keeping the tremor out of his voice.

Tony snorted. "Sure. You've been polishing the same spot on your bow for ten minutes, you're paler than Thor when he found out we were out of Pop Tarts, and you jump whenever anyone says anything. Totally fine."

"Screw you," Clint muttered under his breath. He stood up and left the room, taking his bow with him. Everyone could hear him slam his bedroom door shut.

There was a slight pause after this. Natasha raised an eyebrow at Tony. "What'd you do to piss him off?" she asked. Tony shrugged, perplexed as the rest of them.

Natasha stood up and silently walked down the hallway, into Clint's room. He was lying on his bed, his bow carefully propped against the wall. He jumped a bit when Natasha entered, but relaxed when he saw it was only her.

"Hey 'Tasha," Clint said nervously. Natasha walked across the room and sat down next to him

"Clint," Natasha said in a firm voice, "Something's wrong. I can tell. What is it?"

Clint dropped his gaze and swallowed nervously. "Nothing's wrong."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Clint, you're a horrible liar. Now tell me what's wrong before I shoot you in the foot."

The anxiety faded from Clint's eyes for a moment as he shot Natasha a look. "You shouldn't be so-"

But what Natasha shouldn't be, she never got to find out, because at that moment, a loud _BOOM _resonated through the house. Clint let out a startled yelp and grabbed the sheets, digging his fingers into the bedding as if to reassure himself it was still real.

Natasha stared at Clint with wide eyes. Hawkeye, master assassin, highly skilled archer, afraid of…_thunder? _

Despite how much she would like to, Natasha knew this was not the time to tease Clint. He was shaking and so pale, it was frightening, not to mention he looked like an injured puppy and was whimpering like one, too- something he would never admit in the future.

Natasha had a look of pity and sympathy on her face. She scooted closer to him and wrapped her arm around Clint's shaking form, which was highly unusual of her. Natasha was not sympathetic and did not 'cuddle'. However, she could let her guard down a bit around her partner, who currently had no guard whatsoever.

Natasha kissed him on the cheek, earning herself a small smile. "Better?" she murmured to him.

Clint nodded, and blushed a bit. "Sorry that I overreacted like that," he muttered, still not wanting to meet his partner's eyes.

"It's okay," Natasha said, kissing him again on the temple. "But if you piss me off, Tony'll hear about this is in a second, got it?" she added.

Clint nodded again, looking far more relaxed than five minutes ago. "Now man the heck up and go out there, because everyone else probably thinks you're dying or something." Natasha said, standing up and walking towards the door.

Clint sat up and watched her, before saying, "Tasha?"

"Mm?" Natasha paused with her hand on the doorframe, not turning around.

There was a heartbeat of silence before Clint answered, "Thank you, for helping."

Natasha tossed a sly smile over her shoulder, her short scarlet curls practically glowing in the darkness. "No problem, Hawk."


End file.
